Making those little 'saddles' with basic equipment

[SignalFailure]

Quite a few engines call for a little brass 'saddle' mounted on the cylinder either to form the port face on an oscillating engine or to mount or contain the valve chest for slide/piston valve. Making a hole in a rectangular block of material then chopping it up would seem to be the obvious way for anyone with limited equipment (someone like me for example :big: ) but with the price of brass what it is and being a bit of a tightwad I wondered if it was possible to make them from the a minimum amount of material.

It seems the answer is yes; I needed two parts measuring 8x10mm with a 16mm concave diameter so I chucked a piece of 3/8" x 1" drilled the biggest hole without quite breaking through the edges then proceeded to bore out a 16mm 'hole'. A bit of sawing and filing left me with the required parts.

First pic is the work in progress, second is the parts soldered into place.

 

[4156df]

Paul,
Neat idea... I've filed it away for future use.
Dennis

 

[briankenyn]

Very nice Paul. I did something like that some years back when I was building a small .250 /.500 double acting wobbler. The engine runs well as is, but your approach and the final result has a lot more artestry and appeal.